This is going to sound really bad but the past year or so I haven't been able to do a lot with my horse because I have been at school, and I am wanting to start riding again but my horse has gained some weight and hasn't been worked with all that much.

I was wondering if I should start him off in the round pin for half an hour or so a couple times a week to get him back in the swing of things or what? Thanks.

I would take him into the roundpen and do a little evaluation of what he still has/needs a refresher on and then go from there. Same once I got him under saddle, evaluate him like you would a new horse you were trying to see what is/isn't there.

Don't beat yourself up about it and dwell on the shoulda, coulda, wouldas. All that matters is that you want to work with him and get him back to where he was. The round pen would be a great place to start to get him back in shape but keep it interesting by inserting different skills and obstacles. If your saddle still fits and rides well and his ground work is going well you might as well get it on him, see how he handles it, then get onto him and start working some of that vacation weight off of him. Think, "The Biggest Loser" push him but don't go too overboard with it at first, you don't want him to injure himself.

I will be having the same situation in about 60 days. My hubby and I are stationed in Hawaii, but my horse is in Oregon. She had the majority of the year off due to lameness. Wasn't too big of a deal since I'm not there anyways. All in all, she's had about 8 rides on her this past year. 4 of those rides were last month when I went home for Christmas. To my surprise, she remembered just about everything, and was actually a lot better about certain things then she was before. A good solid foundation should come right back with consistency. She was turned out and put on a hot walker for about 20 mins a day, almost everyday for the past 4 months. So physically she was in pretty decent shape. I would suggest that for your horse, lots of walking and running through the basics under saddle. Start with a little trotting and work your way up. Don't sweat it, take your time. This might be a good time to fix old problems or brush up on your weak points as a team. Kind of like starting with a clean slate. I might have missed it somewhere, but did you say how old your horse is? Good luck, I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised :)

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